John Rich was born in Plympton St Mary, Devon, England. He came to Van Diemen's Land in 1882 and was granted land at Neverton (near what is now Frankford). He later moved to the Karoola area around 1888 and was post master there and involved in apple growing. ;;In 1892 he started the "Tasmanian Democrat", a weekly paper published every Friday. It was while running the paper that he became aquainted with William Lane, promoter of the New Australia Movement, which he later joined. ;;He sailed on the "Royal Tar" from Sydney with other New Australia members to Paraguay to set up a new community in 1893. He left Paraguay and returned to England in March 1894.